The Pirates Own Book:
Authentic Narratives of the Most Celebrated Sea Robbers

THE LIFE, ATROCITIES, AND BLOODY
DEATH OF BLACK BEARD

Edward Teach was a native
of Bristol, and having gone to Jamaica,
frequently sailed from that port as one of
the crew of a privateer during the French
war. In that station he gave frequent proofs
of his boldness and personal courage; but he
was not entrusted with any command until
Captain Benjamin Hornigold gave him the
command of a prize which he had taken.

In the spring of 1717, Hornigold and
Teach sailed from Providence for the
continent of America, and on their way
captured a small vessel with 120 barrels of
flour, which they put on board their own
vessel. They also seized two other vessels;
from one they took some gallons of wine, and
from the other, plunder to a considerable
value. After cleaning upon the coast of
Virginia, they made a prize of a large
French Guineaman bound to Martinique, and
Teach obtaining the command of her, went to
the island of Providence, and surrendered to
the king's clemency.

Teach now began to act an independent
part. He mounted his vessel with forty guns,
and named her "The Queen Anne's Revenge."
Cruising near the island of St. Vincent, he
took a large ship, called the Great Allan,
and after having plundered her of what he
deemed proper, set her on fire. A few days
after, Teach encountered the Scarborough
man-of-war, and engaged her for some hours;
but perceiving his strength and resolution,
she retired, and left Teach to pursue his
depredations. His next adventure was with a
sloop of ten guns, commanded by Major
Bonnet, and these two men co-operated for
some time: but Teach finding him
unacquainted with naval affairs, gave the
command of Bonnet's ship to Richards, one of
his own crew, and entertained Bonnet on
board his own vessel. Watering at Turniff,
they discovered a sail, and Richards with
the Revenge slipped her cable, and ran out
to meet her. Upon seeing the black flag
hoisted, the vessel struck, and came-to
under the stern of Teach the commodore. This
was the Adventure from Jamaica. They took
the captain and his men on board the great
ship, and manned his sloop for their own
service.

Weighing from Turniff, where they
remained during a week, and sailing to the
bay, they found there a ship and four
sloops. Teach hoisted his flag, and began to
fire at them, upon which the captain and his
men left their ship and fled to the shore.
Teach burned two of these sloops, and let
the other three depart.

They afterwards sailed to different
places, and having taken two small vessels,
anchored off the bar of Charleston for a few
days. Here they captured a ship bound for
England, as she was coming out of the
harbor. They next seized a vessel coming out
of Charleston, and two pinks coming into the
same harbor, together with a brigantine with
fourteen negroes. The audacity of these
transactions, performed in sight of the
town, struck the inhabitants with terror, as
they had been lately visited by some other
notorious pirates. Meanwhile, there were
eight sail in the harbor, none of which
durst set to sea for fear of falling into
the hands of Teach. The trade of this place
was totally interrupted, and the inhabitants
were abandoned to despair. Their calamity
was greatly augmented from this
circumstance, that a long and desperate war
with the natives had just terminated, when
they began to be infested by these robbers.

Teach having detained all the persons
taken in these ships as prisoners, they were
soon in great want of medicines, and he had
the audacity to demand a chest from the
governor. This demand was made in a manner
not less daring than insolent. Teach sent
Richards, the captain of the Revenge, with
Mr. Marks, one of the prisoners, and several
others, to present their request. Richards
informed the governor, that unless their
demand was granted, and he and his
companions returned in safety, every
prisoner on board the captured ships should
instantly be slain, and the vessels consumed
to ashes.

During the time that Mr. Marks was
negotiating with the governor, Richards and
his associates walked the streets at
pleasure, while indignation flamed from
every eye against them, as the robbers of
their property, and the terror of their
country. Though the affront thus offered to
the Government was great and most audacious,
yet, to preserve the lives of so many men,
they granted their request, and sent on
board a chest valued at three or four
hundred pounds.

Teach, as soon as he received the
medicines and his fellow pirates, pillaged
the ships of gold and provisions, and then
dismissed the prisoners with their vessels.
From the bar of Charleston they sailed to
North Carolina. Teach now began to reflect
how he could best secure the spoil, along
with some of the crew who were his
favorites. Accordingly, under pretence of
cleaning, he ran his vessel on shore, and
grounded; then ordered the men in Hands'
sloop to come to his assistance, which they
endeavoring to do, also ran aground, and so
they were both lost. Then Teach went into
the tender with forty hands, and upon a
sandy island, about a league from shore,
where there was neither bird no beast, nor
herb for their subsistence, he left
seventeen of his crew, who must inevitably
have perished, had not Major Bonnet received
intelligence of their miserable situation,
and sent a long-boat for them. After this
barbarous deed. Teach, with the remainder of
his crew, went and surrendered to the
governor of North Carolina, retaining all
the property which had been acquired by his
fleet.

The temporary suspension of the
depredations of Black Beard, for so he was
now called, did not proceed from a
conviction of his former errors, or a
determination to reform, but to prepare for
future and more extensive exploits. As
governors are but men, and not unfrequently
by no means possessed of the most virtuous
principles, the gold of Black Beard rendered
him comely in the governor's eyes, and, by
his influence, he obtained a legal right to
the great ship called "The Queen Anne's
Revenge." By order of the governor, a court
of vice-admiralty was held at Bath-town, and
that vessel was condemned as a lawful prize
which he had taken from the Spaniards,
though it was a well-known fact that she
belonged to English merchants. Before he
entered upon his new adventures, he married
a young woman of about sixteen years of age,
the governor himself attending the ceremony.
It was reported that this was only his
fourteenth wife, about twelve of whom were
yet alive; and though this woman was young
and amiable, he behaved towards her in a
manner so brutal, that it was shocking to
all decency and propriety, even among his
abandoned crew of pirates.

In his first voyage, Black Beard directed
his course to the Bermudas, and meeting with
two or three English vessels, emptied them
of their stores and other necessaries, and
allowed them to proceed. He also met with
two French vessels bound for Martinique, the
one light, and the other laden with sugar
and cocoa: he put the men on board the
latter into the former, and allowed her to
depart. He brought the freighted vessel into
North Carolina, where the governor and Black
Beard shared the prizes. Nor did their
audacity and villany stop here. Teach and
some of his abandoned crew waited upon his
excellency, and swore that they had seized
the French ship at sea, without a soul on
board; therefore a court was called, and she
was condemned, the honorable governor
received sixty hogsheads of sugar for his
share, his secretary twenty, and the pirates
the remainder. But as guilt always inspires
suspicion, Teach was afraid that some one
might arrive in the harbor who might detect
the roguery: therefore, upon pretence that
she was leaky, and might sink, and so stop
up the entrance to the harbor where she lay,
they obtained the governor's liberty to drag
her into the river, where she was set on
fire, and when burnt down to the water, her
bottom was sunk, that so she might never
rise in judgment against the governor and
his confederates.

The crews of Black Beard's and Vane's
vessels carousing on the coast of Carolina.

Black Beard now being in the province of
Friendship, passed several months in the
river, giving and receiving visits from the
planters; while he traded with the vessels
which came to that river, sometimes in the
way of lawful commerce, and sometimes in his
own way. When he chose to appear the honest
man, he made fair purchases on equal barter;
but when this did not suit his necessities,
or his humor, he would rob at pleasure, and
leave them to seek their redress from the
governor; and the better to cover his
intrigues with his excellency, he would
sometimes outbrave him to his face, and
administer to him a share of that contempt
and insolence which he so liberally bestowed
upon the rest of the inhabitants of the
province.

But there are limits to human insolence
and depravity. The captains of the vessels
who frequented that river, and had been so
often harrassed and plundered by Black
Beard, secretly consulted with some of the
planters what measures to pursue, in order
to banish such an infamous miscreant from
their coasts, and to bring him to deserved
punishment. Convinced from long experience,
that the governor himself, to whom it
belonged, would give no redress, they
represented the matter to the governor of
Virginia, and entreated that an armed force
might be sent from the men-of-war lying
there, either to take or to destroy those
pirates who infested their coast.

Upon this representation, the Governor of
Virginia consulted with the captains of the
two men-of-war as to the best measures to be
adopted. It was resolved that the governor
should hire two small vessels, which could
pursue Bleak Beard into all his inlets and
creeks; that they should be manned from the
men-of-war, and the command given to
Lieutenant Maynard, an experienced and
resolute officer. When all was ready for his
departure, the governor called an assembly,
in which it was resolved to issue a
proclamation, offering a great reward to any
who, within a year, should take or destroy
any pirate.

Upon the 17th of November, 1717, Maynard
left James's river in quest of Black Beard,
and on the evening of the 21st came in sight
of the pirate. This expedition was fitted
out with all possible expedition and
secrecy, no boat being permitted to pass
that might convey any intelligence, while
care was taken to discover where the pirates
were lurking. His excellency the governor of
Bermuda, and his secretary, however, having
obtained information of the intended
expedition, the latter wrote a letter to
Black Beard, intimating, that he had sent
him four of his men, who were all he could
meet within or about town, and so bade him
be on his guard. These men were sent from
Bath-town to the place where Black Beard
lay, about the distance of twenty leagues.

The hardened and infatuated pirate,
having been often deceived by false
intelligence, was the less attentive to this
information, nor was he convinced of its
accuracy until he saw the sloops sent to
apprehend him. Though he had then only
twenty men on board, he prepared to give
battle. Lieutenant Maynard arrived with his
sloops in the evening, and anchored, as he
could not venture, under cloud of night, to
go into the place where Black Beard lay. The
latter spent the night in drinking with the
master of a trading-vessel, with the same
indifference as if no danger had been near.
Nay, such was the desperate wickedness of
this villain, that, it is reported, during
the carousals of that night, one of his men
asked him, "In case any thing should happen
to him during the engagement with the two
sloops which were waiting to attack him in
the morning, whether his wife knew where he
had buried his money?" when he impiously
replied, "That nobody but himself and the
devil knew where it was, and the longest
liver should take all."

In the morning Maynard weighed, and sent
his boat to sound, which coming near the
pirate, received her fire. Maynard then
hoisted royal colors, and made directly
towards Black Beard with every sail and oar.
In a little time the pirate ran aground, and
so also did the king's vessels. Maynard
lightened his vessel of the ballast and
water, and made towards Black Beard. Upon
this he hailed him in his own rude style,
"D--n you for villains, who are you, and
from whence come you?" The lieutenant
answered, "You may see from our colors we
are no pirates." Black Beard bade him send
his boat on board, that he might see who he
was. But Maynard replied, "I cannot spare my
boat, but I will come on board of you as
soon as I can with my sloop." Upon this
Black Beard took a glass of liquor and drank
to him, saying, "I'll give no quarter nor
take any from you." Maynard replied, "He
expected no quarter from him, nor should he
give him any."

During this dialogue the pirate's ship
floated, and the sloops were rowing with all
expedition towards him. As she came near,
the pirate fired a broadside, charged with
all manner of small shot, which killed or
wounded twenty men. Black Beard's ship in a
little after fell broadside to the shore;
one of the sloops called the Ranger, also
fell astern. But Maynard finding that his
own sloop had way, and would soon be on
board of Teach, ordered all his men down,
while himself and the man at the helm, who
he commanded to lie concealed, were the only
persons who remained on deck. He at the same
time desired them to take their pistols,
cutlasses, and swords, and be ready for
action upon his call, and, for greater
expedition, two ladders were placed in the
hatchway. When the king's sloop boarded, the
pirate's case-boxes, filled with powder,
small shot, slugs, and pieces of lead and
iron, with a quick-match in the mouth of
them, were thrown into Maynard's sloop.
Fortunately, however, the men being in the
hold, they did small injury on the present
occasion, though they are usually very
destructive. Black Beard seeing few or no
hands upon deck, cried to his men that they
were all knocked on the head except three or
four; "and therefore," said he, "let us jump
on board, and cut to pieces those that are
alive."

Death of Black Beard.

Upon this, during the smoke occasioned by
one of these case-boxes, Black Beard, with
fourteen of his men, entered, and were not
perceived until the smoke was dispelled. The
signal was given to Maynard's men, who
rushed up in an instant. Black Beard and the
lieutenant exchange shots, and the pirate
was wounded; they then engaged sword in
hand, until the sword of the lieutenant
broke, but fortunately one of his men at
that instant gave Black Beard a terrible
wound in the neck and throat. The most
desperate and bloody conflict
ensued:--Maynard with twelve men, and Black
Beard with fourteen. The sea was dyed with
blood all around the vessel, and uncommon
bravery was displayed upon both sides.
Though the pirate was wounded by the first
shot from Maynard, though he had received
twenty cuts, and as many shots, he fought
with desperate valor; but at length, when in
the act of cocking his pistol, fell down
dead. By this time eight of his men had
fallen, and the rest being wounded, cried
out for quarter, which was granted, as the
ringleader was slain. The other sloop also
attacked the men who remained in the pirate
vessels, until they also cried out for
quarter. And such was the desperation of
Black Beard, that, having small hope of
escaping, he had placed a negro with a match
at the gunpowder door, to blow up the ship
the moment that he should have been boarded
by the king's men, in order to involve the
whole in general ruin. That destructive
broadside at the commencement of the action,
which at first appeared so unlucky, was,
however, the means of their preservation
from the intended destruction.

Maynard severed the pirate's head from
his body, suspended it upon his
bowsprit-end, and sailed to Bath-town, to
obtain medical aid for his wounded men. In
the pirate sloop several letters and papers
were found, which Black Beard would
certainly have destroyed previous to the
engagement, had he not determined to blow
her up upon his being taken, which disclosed
the whole villainy between the honorable
governor of Bermuda and his honest secretary
on the one hand, and the notorious pirate on
the other, who had now suffered the just
punishment of his crimes.

Black Beard's Head on the end of the
Bowsprit.

Scarcely was Maynard returned to Bath-town,
when he boldly went and made free with the
sixty hogsheads of sugar in the possession
of the governor, and the twenty in that of
his secretary.

After his men had been healed at
Bath-town, the lieutenant proceeded to
Virginia, with the head of Black Beard still
suspended on his bowsprit-end, as a trophy
of his victory, to the great joy of all the
inhabitants. The prisoners were tried,
condemned, and executed; and thus all the
crew of that infernal miscreant, Black
Beard, were destroyed, except two. One of
these was taken out of a trading-vessel,
only the day before the engagement, in which
he received no less than seventy wounds, of
all which he was cured. The other was Israel
Hands, who was master of the Queen Anne's
Revenge; he was taken at Bath-town, being
wounded in one of Black Beard's savage
humors. One night Black Beard, drinking in
his cabin with Hands, the pilot, and another
man, without any pretence, took a small pair
of pistols, and cocked them under the table;
which being perceived by the man, he went on
deck, leaving the captain, Hands, and the
pilot together. When his pistols were
prepared, he extinguished the candle,
crossed his arms, and fired at his company.
The one pistol did no execution, but the
other wounded Hands in the knee.
Interrogated concerning the meaning of this,
he answered with an imprecation, "That if he
did not now and then kill one of them, they
would forget who he was." Hands was
eventually tried and condemned, but as he
was about to be executed, a vessel arrived
with a proclamation prolonging the time of
his Majesty's pardon, which Hands pleading,
he was saved from a violent and shameful
death.

In the commonwealth of pirates, he who
goes the greatest length of wickedness, is
looked upon with a kind of envy amongst
them, as a person of a most extraordinary
gallantry; he is therefore entitled to be
distinguished by some post, and, if such a
one has but courage, he must certainly be a
great man. The hero of whom we are writing
was thoroughly accomplished in this way, and
some of his frolics of wickedness were as
extravagant as if he aimed at making his men
believe he was a devil incarnate. Being one
day at sea, and a little flushed with drink;
"Come," said he, "let us make a hell of our
own, and try how long we can bear it."
Accordingly he, with two or three others,
went down into the hold, and closing up all
the hatches, filled several pots full of
brimstone, and other combustible matter;
they then set it on fire, and so continued
till they were almost suffocated, when some
of the men cried out for air; at length he
opened the hatches, not a little pleased
that he had held out the longest.

Those of his crew who were taken alive,
told a story which may appear a little
incredible. That once, upon a cruise, they
found out that they had a man on board more
than their crew; such a one was seen several
days amongst them, sometimes below, and
sometimes upon deck, yet no man in the ship
could give any account who he was, or from
whence he came; but that he disappeared a
little before they were cast away in their
great ship, and, it seems, they verily
believed it was the devil.

One would think these things should have
induced them to reform their lives; but
being so many reprobates together, they
encouraged and spirited one another up in
their wickedness, to which a continual
course of drinking did not a little
contribute. In Black Beard's journal, which
was taken, there were several memoranda of
the following nature, all written with his
own hand.--"Such a day, rum all out;--our
company somewhat sober;--a d--d confusion
amongst us!--rogues a plotting;--great talk
of separation. So I looked sharp for a
prize;--such a day took one, with a great
deal of liquor on board; so kept the company
hot, d--d hot, then all things went well
again."

We shall close the narrative of this
extraordinary man's life by an account of
the cause why he was denominated Black
Beard. He derived this name from his long
black beard, which, like a frightful meteor,
covered his whole face, and terrified all
America more than any comet that had ever
appeared. He was accustomed to twist it with
ribbon in small quantities, and turn them
about his ears. In time of action he wore a
sling over his shoulders with three brace of
pistols. He stuck lighted matches under his
hat, which appeared on both sides of his
face and eyes, naturally fierce and wild,
made him such a figure that the human
imagination cannot form a conception of a
fury more terrible and alarming; and if he
had the appearance and look of a fury, his
actions corresponded with that character.